Improvement in condensers



y Ibarra rrares JOHN M. SPIEGLE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

ilVlPFtOVEh/IENT lN CONDENSERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. dllll, dated January 17, 1865.

T0 all whom it petty concern:

e it known that I, J oHN M. SrlneLn, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented an Improvement in Gondensing Steam-Engines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

My invention consists in the use, in connection with the air-pump of a condensing steam engine, of the perforated tubes hereinafter described, or their equivalents, for introducing jets or streams ot' air into the water as it is forced by the air-pump toward the dischargevalve, thereby converting the water into spray andpreventing the injurious effects which a' violently-impelled unbroken volume of water has on the valves.

In order to enable others skilled iu the art to make and use my invention, I will now proceed to describe the manner of carrying it into effect.

On reference to the 'accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, Figure l is a side view of the air-pump and hot-well of a condensing` steam engine, Fig. 2, a plan view partly in section.

A represents an ordinary air-pump, such as is used in connection with marine condensingvengines, O being the hotwell, D the discharge-valve, and E the passage from the airpump to the hot-well.

It is well known that in condensing; steamengines the volumes of water suddenly raised by the air-pump and forcibly impelled by the latter through the passage into the hot-well -cause sudden jars, and have an injurious effect on the val ves, the latter being frequently cut and torn; especially is this the case with the discharge-valve D, which has to receive the full force of a violently-impelled volume of water.

At any suitable point between the dischargevalve D and the air-pump I introduce the airpipe F, which is furnished with an ordinary check-valve, c, and a common stop-cock, b, for regulating the passage of air through the pipe. On that end of the pipe which projects into the passage E are the two perforated tubes, d and e, arranged at right angles to each other.

As the water raised by the bucket of the pump takes its course through the passage E, it is met by jets of air passing through the perforations of the tubes d and e, which, becoming intimately mixed with the water, cause it to assume the form of spray, the effect of which on the valves is innocuous, compared with that of a forcible unbroken volume of water.

Instead of the perforated tubes d and e, a simple perforated airlchamber communicating with the air-pipe F may be used; in fact, jets or streams of air may be introduced at the desired point by a variety of devices differing in form from but having the same eeet as that described.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent- The use, in connection with the air-pump of a condensing steam-engine, of the perforated tubes d and e, or their equivalents, for introducin g jets or streams of air into the water as it passes from the air-pump to the hot-well, as set forth.

In testimonywhereof I have signed myname to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

Witnesses: JOHN M. SPIEGLE.

HENRY Howson, JOHN WHITE. 

